Lure carrier



July 8, 1930. w. CONNOR.S 1,770,068

LURE CARRIER Filed March '6, 1929 Patented July 8, 1930 WILLIAM CONNOBS, 0F GULFPORT, MISSISSIPPI LURE CARRIER Application filed March 6,

The present invention relates to means for the training, exercising and racing of dogs, and having particular reference to track mounted apparatus adapted to be electrically propelled for moving a lure preferably in the form of a dummy rabbit, around a trackway ahead of the animals to be trained or raced thereon.

Devices of this general nature have heretofore been employed in the art in connection with race tracks, but such devices generally comprise a cumbersome assembly having a trolley motive means and necessitating considerable expense in the installation and maintenance thereof, being at the same time cumbersome and inefficient. There has been a constant demand for a device of this general nature which shall possess features of even balance, light weight, durability and which shall be practically incapable of being damaged under use. To meet these requirements the present invention has been designed.

Objects of the invention are: the provision of an apparatus of this general nature having novel structural details of assembly and operation; to provide an apparatus of this general nature in which the operative elements thereof are arranged to maintain a substantially constant balance on the parts thereof; and generally to provide an improved structural assembly of the mechanical rabbit type having novel propelling means arranged thereon.

With these objects in view and such others as will be apparent from the description, the invention resides in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of partshereinafter described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of an apparatus constructed in accordance with the principles of the invention and as operatively mounted on a trackway.

Figure 2 is an end elevation taken from the right of Figure 1.

In this preferred embodiment of the invention I have illustrated the same as constructed in form of what is known as a me chanical rabbit. The structure details com- 1929. Serial No. 344,816.

prise a substantially rectangular flat base plate of some suitable insulating material and which is provided at the four corners thereof With lateral brackets 11 offset on the body of the base plate as indicated in Figure 2 and provided at their outer ends with bearing wheels 12 suitably journaled thereon, which bearing wheels are engaged within channel track rails 13 and 14 in order to insure a proper guided relation and angled poslt-ionlng of the baseplate during operation of the apparatus.

The upper track rail 13 is supported from brackets 15 carried by a plurality of uprlght posts located at suitable intervals around the area or track in which. the apparatus is designed to operate. One of these posts is shown as at 16 in Figure 2. The bo tom track rail 14 is carried by brackets, one of which is shown as at 17 in Figure 2, loc-ated at suitably spaced intervals on the ground surface of the track, and is arranged with respect to the upper rail 13 so that when the plate 10 is mounted therebetween as illustrated in Figure 2, the plate will be disposed 1n an inclined position which is at a substantial angle to a vertical plane passed through the lower track rail 14.

Preferably the base plate 10 is somewhat greater in length than in width, and is provided on one side face thereof with a longitudlnally central frame 18 which extends laterally from the base plate and is adapted to provide a support for the base blocks 19 of an electric drive motor 20 suitably mounted thereon in rigid relation. Adjacent the lower edge of the base plate a pair of rubber tired drive wheels 21 are journaled on stub shafts 22, the outer ends of the stub shafts 22 providing bearings for receiving the 0 lower ends of a pair of brace bars 23 which connect at their upper ends with the frame 18, as best shown in Figure 2, to provide a rigid mounting for the frame relative to the base plate.

At its outer end relative to the base plate the frame 18 is formed with a hanger bearing 24 through which is received a shaft 25 having one end rigidly secured in the base plate 10 and which is angled beyond the 16 can bearing 24 to extend as a horizontal arm 26. This arm 26 is constructed of suflicient length to extend across the open area of a race track or exercising ground and is equipped in any conventional manner to carry a lure of any approved form such as shown.

Driving power is imparted to the wheels 21 through the medium of a chain and sprocket drive generally indicated as at 27 from the drive shaft of the'motor 20, and the motor derives its current through leads 29 and 30 extending respectively from an upper trolley arm 31 and a lower trolley arm 32, as shown in Figure 1. These trolley arms are mounted on the rear edge of the base plate a dummy rabbit, not

- and are provided with suitable trolley wheels 33 and 34 respectively which ride upon and in engagement with the respectively adjacent channel flanges of the upper and lower track rails 13 and 14. These track rails 13 and 14 are electrically charged to provide mains for distributionof current to the motor20 and it is obvious that the speed of the mechanism may be controlled by selective va riation of current supplied through the 3 tracks 13 and 14 to the trolleys 31 and 32 and thence to the motor. It isto be understood that rails 13 and are well insulated and that the base plate is so formed as to eliminate any possibility of short-circuiting between the rails. The trolleys 31 and 32 are held in engagement against track rail channel flanges by the provision of suitable spring means 35. r

I claim: 1 a a: r

A device ofthe character described com prising a trackway formed of electrically charged upper and lower track rails, a plate disposed between said rails and in wheeled guiding engagement therewith, a carrier arm secured to said plateand projecting later ally therefrom, drive wheels journaled on said plate and in engagement with one of said track rails, an electric motor mounted on said plate and operatively connected for supplying power to said drive wheels for propelling said plate along said trackway,

trolley arms carried by said plate and in connection with the respective track rails, said trolley arms having electrical connection with said motor. t V V In testimony whereof, I aifix my signature.

WILLIAM CONNORS. 

